Despite a mandate to secure Champions League qualification in his first season since succeeding Harry Redknapp as manager, Andre Villas-Boas has also prioritised the competition he won in 2011 with FC Porto and selected strong sides throughout Tottenham's Europa League campaign.
Parker acknowledged that a top-four finish remained their principal target but believed the Amsterdam final would be just reward for how seriously they have taken the competition usually given short shrift by English clubs.
"In previous years, sometimes we've taken a lesser squad or we've rested players but it's probably never been the case this year," Parker said. "The manager told us from the outset that we were going to try and win the competition. I'd like to be able to look back at the end of my career and say this is what I did."
Jermain Defoe is likely to miss both legs of the quarter-final after Villas-Boas confirmed he had sustained another muscle injury, with the England striker expected to return for the meeting with Manchester City on April 21. That means Emmanuel Adebayor will continue in attack alongside Gareth Bale. The manager expects the Welshman who has scored 13 goals in his past 14 appearances to continue to fill the void.
"We have been in periods during the season where our strikers have been injured and we have coped with good results," Villas-Boas said. "Gareth's inclusion as a striker has helped that ability to score goals. He's extremely confident playing as a striker and we are managing to get the best out of him in that position."
Basle knocked Manchester United out of last season's Champions League, drawing 3-3 at Old Trafford and then beating Sir Alex Ferguson's side 2-1 at home. They lost in the first knockout round to Bayern Munich after a 7-0 hammering in the second leg in Germany and were knocked out at the preliminary stage this season by Romanians CFR Cluj.
Villas-Boas said: "We have superior players but the experience Basle have and the fact they have played in the Champions League, and are regular trophy winners, makes them also one of the favourites."
Tottenham Hotspur (probable, 4-4-2): Friedel; Walker, Vertonghen, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Parker, Dembele, Sigurdsson; Bale, Adebayor.
Basle (probable, 4-4-2): Sommer; Park, Degen, Dragovic, Schar; Die, Stocker, Frei, Diaz; Streller, Gharbiyya.
Referee: M Mazic (Serbia).
No comments:
Post a Comment